Doctor talking to patient

We aim to deliver an exceptional experience at every interaction, every day.

In this section:

Each experience with Texas Health, whether online or in person, leaves an impression. To fulfill our Vision of partnering with consumers for a lifetime of health and well-being, we aim to provide consistent, superior experiences.

We want each person we care for to:

  • Feel seen, heard, understood and respected.
  • Receive compassionate, reliable, safe, quality and equitable care.
  • Access the support they need, when and where they need it.

When people are given quality time and attention from their care teams, they experience less anxiety and improved trust and satisfaction.

Strategies

Beginning at new hire orientation, we communicate the importance of delivering an exceptional consumer experience and reinforce these practices in various touchpoints. We aim to:  

  • Foster intentional interactions by equipping staff with evidence-based strategies to strengthen consumer and family connections.
  • Deliver culturally inclusive care and use bias-free language to honor an individual’s identity, heritage, language, beliefs and religion.
  • Improve understanding by using interpreters, visual aids, and materials written at the sixth-grade level. More than 100 languages are spoken in our service area.
  • Leverage technologies that automate tasks, gather real-time insights and document patients’ progress and needs. These free up caregivers’ time to focus more attention on the individual.
  • Train clinical teams to gather real-time insights and respond effectively, apply reliable and critical relational skills to the rounding process, and proactively address patients’ needs.  

Assessments

We actively seek consumer feedback about their experiences with Texas Health to identify areas for improvement. Feedback is gathered through short text surveys and tablets used by our care teams during rounding. Patients across our care settings are invited to participate in a post-discharge survey and share their experiences. We ask how likely they are to recommend Texas Health, which is measured as a Net Promoter Score® (NPS). We aim to achieve top-quartile NPS performance compared to national benchmarks.

Additionally, we send the nationally standardized Hospital Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS®) survey to inpatients admitted to our hospitals. Patients evaluate their experience in eight categories, which are used to create an HCAHPS Stars rating. Stars are reported on a scale of one to five stars for each category, with five being the highest rating. In 2024, Texas Health will pursue a target of 32 stars out of 40 for each entity.

2023 Highlights

Texas Health:

  • Achieved top-quartile NPS performance at 10 entities, achieving our goal. Overall, 20 entities improved their year-over-year NPS scores. We also earned an average systemwide score of four stars out of five in HCAHPS Star Ratings, with five entities improving their year-over-year performance. For detailed results, please see our Performance Data.
  • Established the Connected Experience Collaborative, a cross-functional workgroup that helps identify and remove barriers to an exceptional consumer experience. Members launched a Words Matter campaign designed to reinforce bias-free language. The campaign includes a guide that helps employees use inclusive language to describe age, disability, health conditions, avoid pet names and more.
  • Deployed Gemba Rounds, a Japanese practice where leaders visit “where work is happening” to observe, engage and learn. Hospital leaders use these interactions to connect with employees and reinforce and influence vital behaviors.
  • Earned industry recognition for exceptional patient and consumer experience at four entities.
  • Began assessing patient satisfaction and caregivers’ experience for Texas Health Care at Home participants to identify and address any refinements. Patients expressed that they had less stress and enjoyed the convenience of receiving follow-up care from home.

Snapshot: Elevating Patient Experiences through Purposeful Presence

Prioritizing Purposeful Presence for patient experiencesTexas Health is prioritizing intentional consumer interactions through its Purposeful Presence Program, designed to improve patient experiences throughout the organization.

"One of the greatest impacts we can make on the patient experience is being purposeful in every interaction," said Bianca Radney, M.B.A., vice president, Patient and Family Experience. "All of us, whether talking to a consumer on the phone, greeting them at a clinic, caring for them in a hospital bed or passing them in a hallway, make an impact."

The initiative focuses on five key strategies:

  • Create positive first impressions by actively engaging consumers, offering warm introductions, addressing needs and speaking positively about team members.
  • Implement hourly rounding to address patient needs, concluding each interaction by asking, "What else can I do for you?"
  • Greet patients, set expectations, guide them to exam rooms and provide visit instructions. After the exam, update them on the next steps, including wait times.
  • Establish no-pass zones around patient rooms, ensuring employees check for call lights and offer assistance or connect patients with the appropriate team member.
  • Involve nurse leaders and executives in patient and family rounds in brick-and-mortar and virtual settings to assess physical care, address concerns and proactively enhance the overall experience.

Snapshot: Peer-to-Peer Outreach Helps Strengthen Physician-Patient Relationships

A strong physician-patient relationship is essential for a better care experience, more accurate diagnosis, collaborative decision-making and improved health outcomes. However, administrative burdens and time constraints often impede physicians' deep engagement with their patients.

To bridge this divide, Texas Health’s patient experience leaders and medical directors provide physicians on its medical staffs with tools and peer-to-peer learning about optimizing each patient interaction.

Dr. Lawrence Hum, a credentialed emergency medicine physician on the medical staffs of several Texas Health hospitals, emphasized the value of compassionate and empathy-based care delivery.

“By taking the time to make connections, listen to concerns and collaborate on a treatment plan, we build trust,” he said. “This trust facilitates open and honest discussions, which lead to more accurate diagnoses and adherence to effective care plans. This ultimately saves time and costs over the course of care and improves health outcomes and patient satisfaction.”

Drawing from his near-perfect patient experience scores over the last decade, Dr. Hum developed a list of 20 best practices he shares with other emergency department colleagues. He also shares tools and language to navigate challenging interactions. He deploys these same tools with his patients, which are quick and seamless.

Primary and specialty care physicians and inpatient hospitalists also receive coaching, tools, and best practices to enhance provider-patient communication and the overall care experience. Some videos and resources are offered through an app, enabling doctors to access them on-demand at their convenience.

One physician with more than 40 years in practice received feedback that he seemed unhappy when interacting with patients. Upon exploring the app's resources, he recognized that he hadn't been smiling as he had before the pandemic when mask mandates for providers weren't in place. Realizing that patients could now see his facial expressions again, he made a conscious effort to smile more, uplifting his mood and leaving a positive impression on his patients.